The Dinner of the Seven Wise Men (12-13)

When this discussion had come to an end, I said that it seemed to me to be only fair that these men should tell us how a house should be managed. For, said I, but few persons are in control of kingdoms and states, whereas we all have to do with a hearth and home,

Aesop laughed and said, Not all, if you include also Anacharsis in our number; for not only has he no home, but he takes an immense pride in being homeless and in using a wagon, after the manner in which they say the sun makes his rounds in a chariot, occupying now one place and now another in the heavens.

And that, I would have you know, said Anacharsis, is precisely the reason why he solely or pre-eminently of all the gods is free and independent, and rules over all and is ruled by none, but is king, and holds the reins. Only you seem to have no conception of his chariot, how surpassing it is in beauty, and wondrous in size; else you would not, even in jest, have humorously compared it to ours. It seems to me, Aesop, that your idea of a home is limited to these protective coverings made of mortar, wood, and tiles, just as if you were to regard a snail’s shell, and not the creature itself, as a snail. Quite naturally, then, Solon gave you occasion to laugh, because, when he had looked over Croesus’s house with its costly furnishings, he did not instantly

declare that the owner led a happy and blessed existence therein, for the good reason that he wished to have a look at the good within Croesus rather than at his good surroundings. [*] But you, apparently, do not remember your own fox.[*] For the fox, having entered into a contest with the leopard to determine which was the more ingeniously coloured, insisted it was but fair that the judge should note carefully what was within her, for there she said she should show herself more ingenious. But you go about, inspecting the works of carpenters and stonemasons, and regarding them as a home, and not the inward and personal possessions of each man, his children, his partner in marriage, his friends, and servants; and though it be in an ant-hill or a bird’s nest, yet if these are possessed of sense and discretion, and the head of the family shares with them all his worldly goods, he dwells in a goodly and a happy home. This then,said he, is my answer to Aesop’s insinuation, and my contribution to Diocles. And now it is but right that each of the others should disclose his own opinion.

Thereupon Solon said that the best home seemed to him to be where no injustice is attached to the acquisition of property, no distrust to keeping it, and no repentance to spending it.

Bias said, It is the home in which the head of the household, because of his own self, maintains the same character that he maintains outside of it because of the law.

Thales said, The home in which it is possible for the head of the household to have the greatest leisure.

Cleobulus said, If the head of the household have more who love him than fear him.

Pittacus said that the best home is that which needs nothing superfluous, and lacks nothing necessary.

Chilon said that the home ought to be most like to a State ruled by a king; and then he added that Lycurgus said to the man who urged him to establish a democracy in the State, Do you first create a democracy in your own house. [*]

When this discussion had come to its end, Eumetis withdrew, accompanied by Melissa. Then Periander drank to Chilon in a big beaker, and Chilon did the same to Bias, whereupon Ardalus arose, and addressing himself to Aesop, said, Won’t you send the cup over here to us, seeing that these people are sending it to and fro to one another as though it were the beaker of Bathycles,[*] and are not giving anybody else a chance at it ?

And Aesop said, But this cup is not democratic either, since it has been resting all the time by Solon only.

Thereupon Pittacus, addressing Mnesiphilus, asked why Solon did not drink, but by his testimony was discrediting the verses in which he had written [*]

Give me the tasks of the Cyprus-born goddess and Lord Dionysus, Yea, and the Muses besides; tasks which bring cheer among men.

Before the other could reply Anacharsis hastened to say, He is afraid of you, Pittacus, and that harsh law of yours in which you have decreed, If any man commit any offence when drunk, his penalty shall be double that prescribed for the sober. [*]

And Pittacus said, But you at any rate showed such insolent disregard for the law, that last year, at the house of Alcaeus’s brother, you were the first to get drunk and you demanded as a prize a wreath of victory. [*]

And why not? said Anacharsis. Prizes were offered for the man who drank the most, and I was the first’to get drunk; why should I not have demanded the reward of my victory? Else do you instruct me as to what is the aim in drinking much strong wine other than to get drunk.

When Pittacus laughed at this, Aesop told the following story: A wolf seeing some shepherds in a shelter eating a sheep, came near to them and said, What an uproar you would make if I were doing that!

Aesop, said Chilon, has very properly defended himself, for a few moments ago [*] he had his mouth stopped by us, and now, later, he sees that others have taken the words out of Mnesiphilus’s mouth; for it was Mnesiphilus who was asked for a rejoinder in defence of Solon.

And I speak, said Mnesiphilus, with full

knowledge that it is Solon’s opinion that the task of every art and faculty, both human and divine, is the thing that is produced rather than the means employed in its production, and the end itself rather than the means that contribute to that end. For a weaver, I imagine, would hold that his task was a cloak or a mantle rather than the arrangement of shuttle-rods or the hanging of loom weights; and so a smith would regard the welding of iron or the tempering of an axe rather than any one of the things that have to be done for this purpose, such as blowing up the fire or getting ready a flux. Even more would an architect find fault with us, if we should declare that his task is not a temple or a house, but to bore timbers and mix mortar. And the Muses would most assuredly feel aggrieved, if we should regard as their task a lyre or flutes, and not the development of the characters and the soothing of the emotions of those who make use of songs and melodies. And so again the task of Aphrodite is not carnal intercourse, nor is that of Dionysus strong drink and wine, but rather the friendly feeling, the longing, the association, and the intimacy, one with another, which they create in us through these agencies. These are what Solon calls tasks divine, and these he says he loves and pursues above all else, now that he has become an old man. And Aphrodite is the artisan who creates concord and friendship between men and women, for through their bodies, under the influence of pleasure, she at the same time unites and welds together their souls.[*] And in the case of the majority of people, who are not altogether intimate or too well known to one another, Dionysus softens and relaxes their characters with wine, as in a fire, and so provides some means for beginning a union and friendship with one another. However, when such men as you, whom Periander has invited here, come together, I think there is nothing for the wine-cup or ladle to accomplish, but the Muses set discourse in the midst before all, a non-intoxicating bowl as it were, containing a maximum of pleasure in jest and seriousness combined; and with this they awaken and foster and dispense friendliness, allowing the ladle, for the most part, to lie untouched atop of the bowl—a thing which Hesiod [*] would prohibit in a company of men better able to drink than to converse. As a matter of fact,he continued, as nearly as I can make out, among the men of olden time the practice of drinking healths was not in vogue, since each man drank one goblet, as Homer [*] has said, that is a measured quantity, and later, like Ajax,[*] shared a portion with his neighbour.

When Mnesiphilus had said this, Chersias the poet [*] (having been already absolved from the charge against him, and recently reconciled with Periander at Chilon’s solicitation) said, Is it to be inferred, then, that Zeus used to pour out the drink for the gods also in measured quantity, as Agamemnon did for his nobles, when the gods, dining with Zeus, drank to one another?

And Cleodorus said, But, Chersias, if certain doves [*] bring to Zeus his ambrosia, as you poets say, and with

great difficulty hardly manage to fly over the clashing rocks, do you not believe that his nectar is hard for him to get and scarce, so that he is sparing of it, and doles it out charily to each god?